DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Iran remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its safeguards agreement, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday, a day after Tehran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Separately, the United States imposed sanctions on Thursday against a business network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, as well as sanctions targeting a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.
The latest US move came as President Donald Trump last month said China can continue to buy Iranian oil, in what appeared to be relief for Tehran from sanctions Washington has previously imposed to punish the trade.
“Our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will be channelled through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons,” Araqchi wrote in a post on X.
EXPLICIT SUPPORT TO ISRAEL
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday enacted the legislation passed by parliament last week to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, a move the US called “unacceptable.”
Araqchi’s comment on X was in response to a call from Germany’s Foreign Ministry urging Tehran to reverse its decision to shelve cooperation with the IAEA.
Moreover, Araqchi accused Germany of “explicit support for Israel’s unlawful attack on Iran, including safeguarded nuclear sites”.
Iran has accused the IAEA of siding with Western countries and providing a justification for Israel’s June 13-24 airstrikes on Iranian nuclear installations, which began a day after the UN agency’s board of governors voted to declare Tehran in violation of its obligations under the NPT.
Western powers have long suspected that Iran has sought to develop the means to build atomic bombs through its declared civilian atomic energy programme. Iran has repeatedly said it is enriching uranium only for peaceful nuclear ends.
IAEA inspectors are mandated to ensure compliance with the NPT by seeking to verify that nuclear programmes in treaty countries are not diverted for military purposes.
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The law that went into effect on Wednesday mandates that any future inspection of Iranian nuclear sites by the IAEA needs approval by Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council.
“We are aware of these reports. The IAEA is awaiting further official information from Iran,” the Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog said in a statement.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a regular briefing on Wednesday that Iran needed to cooperate fully with the IAEA without further delay.
IRANIAN OIL AND HEZBOLLAH
On the other hand, the Treasury Department said in statement that the network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said has been buying and shipping billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil since at least 2020.
“Treasury will continue to target Tehran’s revenue sources and intensify economic pressure to disrupt the regime’s access to the financial resources that fuel its destabilizing activities,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
In this connection, the Treasury Department also sanctioned several vessels that are accused of engaging in the covert delivery of Iranian oil, intensifying pressure on Iran’s “shadow fleet,” it said.
Moreover, it also issued sanctions against several senior officials and one entity associated with the Hezbollah-controlled financial institution Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
The officials, the department said, conducted millions of dollars in transactions that ultimately benefited, but obscured, Hezbollah.